Currently, when one desires to obtain a copy of a print, such as a photographic print, one would either provide the negative from which the image was made, or scan the print and use that information to reprint or display the image. With regard to using the film negative from which the print is made, this is generally difficult for the consumer, as in many instances the original negative is either lost, or inaccessible. In the case of an image obtained from a digital camera, the original file is often lost or in accessible. The use of the print for scanning so as to obtain the image presents other problems. Typically, the dyes present in the print deteriorate with time and under certain illuminations can be greatly deteriorated. In any event, the image obtained is directly related to the image as it currently exists at the time of scanning.
It has been suggested that when prints are produced optically from film onto photographic paper, that exposure information used for printing be provided on the back of the print, and in some instances, provide additional information relating to the specific film from which the print has been made. However, this information is limited in that it can only be used for reprinting on optical printers and does not take into account the current condition of the image from which the reproduction is being made.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,086 to Hicks discloses encoding information with a photographic film or paper to enable identification and general exposing information for the film to produce the aim print.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,900 to Wright discloses a method of encoding a plethora of information about a print, including a history of changes to the image, instructions on how many copies to make, which parts of the image to copy, etc., as taggants combined with the colorants forming an image. These taggants, which should not be visible to human observers under normal viewing conditions, are identified by a copying system and are decoded to provide copying information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,874 to Woolfe et al discloses a method for restoring the appearance of the original print in a copy by using a model of the fading mechanism of the original print material along with a human observer to adjust the fading mechanism parameters to produce a pleasing print.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,646 to Lewis has described a method for restoring an original print to its original appearance using a chemical process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,518 to Numakura et al discloses a method of reproducing a halftone copy of a current print, but in a manner that restored the appearance of the original print. This method proposes scaling the densities in the current print by the ratio of the assumed maximum density of the original print material to the darkest pixel densities in the current image prior to converting the result pixel densities to their corresponding halftone parameters. While this method may provide some improvement, it will not produce an accurate reproduction of the original unfaded print in many cases because it assumes a linear-in-density print material fading function, a known maximum density value for the print material which may be difficult to obtain for old materials, and that the original scene had pixel densities equal to the maximum R, G and B densities in the print material.
In the prior art discussed above, when an image on a print is scanned and digitized and a hardcopy is produced using a digital printer, for example, but not limited by, a CRT printer, a LED printer, a laser printer, a thermal printer, an inkjet printer, or any other printing process, no effort is made to provide data on the original image, which can be used to later reproduce the image in its original state. Typically in prior art devices, when a hardcopy print is scanned, it is later produced from the condition from which it was scanned. In order to restore an image to its original condition as captured, thereby reducing the effects of fading, or other type of image degradation, an operator has had to intervene and use a computer with image processing capabilities to correct the errors due to degradation. Typically, an operator would use computer algorithms to restore the image to a state that is determined by hypothetical standards. In other situations, information that may have been stored on the back or other portions of the print, is used to recreate the printing conditions under which the original image was made. However, in these cases, there is no information utilized which is directed to the colorimetric condition of the image as originally produced or captured.
Thus, in the prior art there has not been disclosed a simple and economic way to create a hardcopy reproduction or a display that accurately portrays the image as it was originally produced or captured without accessing the original captured film (assuming that the film has not deteriorated), or digital file. The prior art methods have dealt with many aspects of reproducing a copy that resembles the image, but does not restore the image to the original parameters under which it was originally produced and/or captured.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,885 to Neff et al discloses providing a print having all the original image information that is provided to form the image. However, this procedure requires a large amount of digital information to be placed on the print. One problem that this presents is that it is substantially more expensive to provide such detailed information due to the large amount of information necessary. In addition, this technique presents a greater risk that the portion containing this data could be damaged, thus reducing its ability to reprint the image.
The present invention provides an improved hardcopy print and a method of making the same whereby reprints can be made to the original conditions as originally produced and/or captured using information that can be easily scanned from the print.